Children
by pretty in orange
Summary: A sequel to "Fixed", years later, married with children, Ruka and Kain realize the true meaning of raising kids: standing back and letting them grow up. Rukain, slight Shima and AidouXYuuki.
1. Chapter 1

Author Note: This is the sequel to Fixed, and while it is Rukain, it does focus generally on Ruka's parental relationship with her two girls, Akiko and Miyo. And their relationships for that matter. That said, I am not a parent, and I have no clue what Ruka would be saying/feeling, so everything here is my best guess, except for the girl's reactions to Ruka. We're in Ruka's point of view for now.

Disclaimer: I do not, did not, and will never own Vampire Knight. I make absolutely no profit from this.

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"Akiko!" I hugged my eldest daughter, who was 16, and had come home crying.

"Mom, go away, I'll deal with it on my own." Akiko swiped at her eyes, reminding me of myself back in the day.

"You need to talk about it." I held her tightly as she squirmed and tried to get away. "Keeping it inside won't do you any good. Take a tip from your Mother who's been there."

"I don't want to talk about Kozue, ok?" Akiko scrubbed her eyes on her sleeves. "I don't want to think about him! I don't want to be reminded of him in any way! Shut up, Mom, just shut up!"

"Akiko, that's not very nice." I let go of her and she bolted for her room.

Akatsuki chose that moment to walk into the house. "Again?"

"Yes." I sighed. "She won't talk to me, of course, but I suppose we should call Rima and see if we can get Haruto over here."

Haruto, Shiki and Rima's eldest son who was just a few months older than Akiko, was Akiko's solace in her heartbroken world. It was much the same as how Akatsuki had been for me before we fell in love. When Akiko threw a fit like this over anything, Haruto was the one person who could calm her down.

"Do you want me to do it?" Akatsuki threw his jacket on a chair and wrapped his arms around me. "Or do you want to call? And where's Miyo?"

Miyo, our other daughter, was 13. "She's in her room. I'll call Rima. Can you go check on Miyo? I haven't heard a peep out of her since she went to her room."

"Alright." He leaned down and kissed me. "I'll be back." He headed for Miyo's room.

I grabbed the cordless and dialed Rima.

"Hello?" She asked, and I heard a crash in the background. "Guys, c'mon!" She called. "Yes, Ruka?"

"Is Haruto home?" I heard another crash.

"Oh for the love of... GUYS!" Rima rarely raised her voice; it had to have been a bad day. "Yes. He's home, do you need him for Akiko?"

"Yes." Screams came through the phone. "What are the twins doing?" Shiki and Rima, in addition to Haruto, had two four-year-old twins, Kohaku and Kosuke. Shiki was the only one who could control them.

"Oh, the usual." Rima didn't seem phased as much as she did slightly annoyed. "Climbing the walls, wreaking havoc, and breaking things. I have to go before someone gets hurt." One of the twins started sobbing and the other instantly started up after. "Too late. I'll send Haruto over though. Bye." The click signaled the end of my call.

"I'm back." Akatsuki walked out, holding Miyo who was clinging to her ipod and her father's shirt. "She wanted to be out here with us."

Miyo looked at me with her big brown eyes, just like mine, and brushed her almond hair out of her eyes.

"Hi sweetie." I kissed her forehead as Akatsuki sat her down on the couch.

"Hi Momma." Miyo looked up at me, gave me a tiny wave and then turned back to her ipod.

"Haruto coming over?" My husband asked as I stood up straight and looked at him.

"Yeah." I wrapped my arms around his neck. "As long as one of the twins isn't severely hurt. Apparently Shiki wasn't home and they were out of control."

"As per usual." Akatsuki smiled at me, kissing my forehead.

I turned slightly, staying close to him but looking at Miyo. "Don't you wish they could never grow up?"

"No... I want to see them grow up and be great people." He smiled, turning to look at Miyo too, who was so ensconced with her ipod that she didn't notice us staring. "But I kind of wish we could've skipped the moody stage with Akiko."

At that moment, the front door banged open. "She in her room?" Haruto asked, shoving his key in his pocket.

"Yes." I quickly added, "don't slam the do-"

Haruto slammed the door and ran for Akiko's room, muttering about damn Kozue the whole time.

I waited until Haruto was in the room with the door shut until I whispered to Akatsuki, "They remind me so much of us back in the day."

"Me too." Akatsuki put one hand in the middle of my back, pulling me in close. "He's more... energetic about it than I was, but they are a lot like us."

I looked at Miyo. She didn't remind me of either Akatsuki or I, despite that she looked just like a mini me. She was painfully shy around anyone outside the family, and she had no friends, to put it bluntly. She was a Daddy's girl, but she was partial to me as well.

"Do you think that Akiko will realize it like I realized it?" I asked Akatsuki.

"We can hope." He squeezed me gently.

But our troubles with our children were truly only beginning.

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Author Note: I realize this probably isn't very good, because I am not a mother. I'm sorry. As I settle into the role, it should get better. I love reviews and PMs about my story! Thank you so much for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

Author Note: I'm getting tired and stupid. Please alert me to any typos you see.

Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Knight and I make no profit from this.

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The next day, I found Haruto and Akiko curled up, asleep, in Akiko's bed. I couldn't help remembering how Akatsuki and I had done that, curled up in my dorm room, and basically kicked Rima out. Haruto's arms were wrapped around Akiko, and she was pressed against him in her sleep, the kind of closeness you can only have when it's mutual in some way.

"School." I whispered in Akiko's ear.

She bolted up, waking Haruto up too. They both looked at me in shock, waiting for me to scream at them.

"You're not in trouble." I said with a smile. "But you will be if you're late to school. Hurry up."

"Shit!" Akiko yelped when she got a glance at the clock. She jumped over Haruto, grabbed some clothes and ran into the bathroom.

Haruto was frozen, looking at me with suspicious eyes. And he had a right to be suspicious.

"I understand that you love my daughter." I smiled placidly at him. "And that's good, I like that you love her. But if you touch her in any way I deem inappropriate, I will kill you, whether you're my best friend's son or not. Ok?"

Haruto looked at me with a completely straight face and said, "I respect Akiko way too much to do what you're implying."

"Thank you, you're a good kid." I walked towards the door. "Get ready for school."

But that wasn't the only event of the day. Sometime around lunch, I got a call from the school saying that I needed to pick Miyo up.

When I asked why, the secretary said simply, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Just come."

When I walked into the office, I found Miyo clinging to a boy... a little blonde boy that looked suspiciously like...

I shook that thought off and turned Miyo towards me. She had a black eye, a split lip, and her face was slightly bloody, as if she'd had a nosebleed or been shoved down.

"Miyo! What happened, sweetie?" I tried to tear her away from the boy, a bit possessively I admit, but they clung to each other. Miyo didn't answer me. "What's your name?" I asked the little blonde boy.

"Hideki Aidou." The boy glared at me. "Who are you, old woman?"

He was definitely Hanabusa's kid. But he had moved away years ago, and I saw no reason for him to come back.

Hideki had a split lip, two black eyes, and a scrape on the side of his face. And _he_ was clinging to _my_ baby, my little girl.

"Did you two get into a fight?" I asked, trying again, in vain, to pry Miyo off the boy. Why was my little wallflower so connected to this boy? What could he possibly have done to make her this comfortable with him?

"Not with each other." Miyo hid her face against Hideki's chest, and he held her tightly.

Oh. _Oh. _Hideki had defended her. My little girl, who never had any friends outside the family, had been getting bullied and _Hideki_ _Aidou_ had protected her.

"Is your father coming to pick you up, Hideki?" I had given up on trying to pry Miyo off him; it was going to have to wait. The secretary was watching this all discreetly from her desk, like a soap opera.

"No." Hideki shook his head. "Mom is coming to pick me up."

"Alright." I sat down in a chair and kept an eye on them, until I heard a familiar voice, one I hadn't heard since being at Cross Academy.

"Hideki! Are you alright?" Yuuki Cross rushed over to the little blonde boy and hugged him tightly, embracing Miyo as well, probably on accident.

"You're with Hanabusa?" I blinked. "Yuuki Cross, from Cross Academy is with Hanabusa Aidou who used to bully the hell out of her?"

"Language!" The secretary called, somewhat annoyed.

"I believe it's English." I shot back at her and Yuuki laughed. The kids were too engrossed with each other to notice our little spat.

"You want to go to my house and talk for a while?" I asked Yuuki. "We're going to have trouble separating the kids right now anyway."

"Your car? I took a cab." Yuuki smiled at me. "Don't tell Hanabusa though, he'd be mad. I just wanted to get over here in a hurry."

"Yes, my car then. Lets go." The kids held hands all the way out to the car, and when Yuuki and I fussed over them, buckling them in like toddlers, they whined because they wanted to be closer. Eventually, we let Miyo move to the middle seat.

"So you're really not jealous of me anymore, Ruka?" Yuuki asked as I pulled the car out of the parking lot.

"I'm happy with Akatsuki, very happy." I gave her a quick smile. "Jealousy isn't an issue anymore. But..." I paused. "Why did you marry Hanabusa?" I pointed at her ring. "He used to bully you constantly at school, how did you two ever... I just don't get that." I checked the mirror, the kids were completely oblivious to us, holding hands and leaning on each other.

"Well... Lets talk more later." Yuuki said, which is obvious mom-speak for "When the kids are more occupied".

"Right." I glanced in the mirror and shook my head a bit.

But blood is thicker than water...

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Author Note: I just kept calling Hideki little blonde boy, didn't I? I never decided on his eye color, whether I wanted him to have Yuuki's eye color or Hanabusa's. He'd look strange with Yuuki's eyes and Hanabusa's hair, wouldn't he? Anyhow, I love your comments and opinions, and thank you for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

Author Note: It's really late now, but I want to keep working on this until I pass out. Again, I'm tired; running on like three hours of sleep, so any typos you see please alert me to them.

Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Knight and I make no profit from this.

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With the kids eating lunch in the dining room, and Yuuki and I in the kitchen, Yuuki started to tell me how she had ended up with Hanabusa.

"I was living with Kaname for a while... but things... went wrong." She shrugged helplessly, giving me a sad smile. "I realized that he only wanted me to have his babies, his pureblood babies. I felt... trapped. And when I ran away finally, Hanabusa found me. He said he had to leave in a couple days, but if I wanted to go with him, he would take me with him."

"So impulsive." I chastised. "Keep going."

"I had pretty much a day to decide..." Yuuki got a far away look to her. "And I thought of how kind he had been to me after he found out what I really was... and when I thought back to before that, when he bullied me, I thought of how gently he used to touch me." Her right hand drifted up to her collarbone and lay across it. "I went with him, obviously, and he had changed... he was always so careful with me, as if he was scared of hurting me. I guess he still is, really."

"Love is a strange thing." I poked at my plate of food; both Yuuki and I had been too busy talking to eat. "My older daughter, Akiko, she's in love with someone that doesn't like her... but Shiki and Rima's son, Haruto, is desperately in love with her. He respects her too much to try something, but he slept in her bed last night."

"Aww, just like you and Akatsuki used to!" Yuuki smiled brightly at me and I wondered when I had ever been ballsy enough to hate this girl.

"Yeah." We were quiet for a few moments when we finally began to eat. Then I said, "I'm glad you're in love with Hanabusa, he needs someone to keep him in line, and you seem happy."

"I am happy. Much happier than I was with Kaname." Yuuki acquired a soft smile. "It's funny, back when I was... before I found out what I am, I always thought I would be so happy with Kaname, and I wasn't. But I'm very happy with Hanabusa."

"Stop it!" Miyo screamed from the dining room. Yuuki and I ran into the next room, nearly bowling each other over trying to get there.

We both blinked repeatedly at the scene in front of us. Hideki was pinning Miyo down on the floor, tickling her. Miyo was giggling and screaming and squirming, her face betraying her delight.

Yuuki and I looked at each other, neither of us making a move to stop the children.

"So," I said dryly, "What will Hanabusa think of this?"

"We'll see won't we?" Yuuki replied, looking at the children, who were now play-wrestling on the floor.

"Yeah. We'll see."

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Author Note: I had such a great mental picture of this little version of Ruka and this little version of Hanabusa rolling around on the floor, laughing. Could you see it? I love reviews, and thank you for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

Author Note: Well I'm really frying my brain now.

Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Knight and I make no profit from this.

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"Hanabusa's back?" Akatsuki asked. He had just walked in the door and I had practically assaulted him with the news.

"Yes. And he's with Yuuki Cross, and they have a son, and his name is Hideki, and he-" I tried to keep going.

But Akatsuki leaned in as close as he could and said, "Ruka, calm down. The world isn't ending. Promise."

"And Miyo was being bullied and Hideki protected her!" I blurted as he leaned away slightly.

"Ok, maybe it is." He kissed my forehead. "Speaking of which, where are the kids?"

"Akiko's at Rima's house, hanging out with Haruto." I smiled. "Miyo is in her room pouting because Yuuki took Hideki home."

"One day and they're that close already?" Akatsuki hung his coat up in the hall closet. "That's strange."

"You should've seen them in the office when I went to pick Miyo up." I shook my head slightly at the pure insanity of it. "He was holding her like both their lives depended on it, they're inseparable most of the time. And when we left them alone in the dining room, he started tickling her. Their bond is insane."

"You realize that she is thirteen right?" Akatsuki watched me with worried eyes. "It's not like she's a little baby anymore."

"I miss having a baby in the house..." I hugged Akatsuki. "But we don't need any of my mood swings with two teenagers in the house. That would be too much..."

"Do you really want another baby, Ruka? Think about it and then decide." Akatsuki stroked my hair gently. "Because I can handle your mood swings if you really want another baby."

"I don't know how Akiko and Miyo would feel about it..." I reached up and wrapped my arms around my husband's neck. "What do you want?"

"Whatever makes you happy." Akatsuki leaned down and gave me a quick-but-not-too-quick kiss. "I want you to be happy, Ruka, whatever it takes."

"You're the best husband in the history of husbands." I pulled him down and kissed him.

"Hi cuz!" The door banged open and Hanabusa stood there, along with Yuuki and Hideki.

"Miyo!" Hideki screamed and ran towards her room.

"Hey Ruka." Yuuki smiled at me. I could feel the strange look Akatsuki was giving me, but I didn't care. "Sorry about coming over without telling you first."

"It's fine." I smiled back.

Hanabusa and Akatsuki looked between Yuuki and I, waiting for an explanation. When one wasn't offered, Hanabusa shrugged and darted towards the living room. "Come on, Akatsuki, we need to catch up! It's been forever."

Moments later, Yuuki and I holed up in the kitchen while the kids ran screaming around the house, playing tag. Akatsuki and Hanabusa were in the living room, talking.

"Ruka?" Yuuki asked as I watched the kids run through the kitchen. "Can I ask a personal question?"

"I already asked you about Hanabusa, I think you have the right to at least one." I flashed her a smile. "Go ahead."

"When you found out you were in an arranged marriage to Akatsuki, what were your first thoughts?" Yuuki leaned against the counter slightly.

"More than anything... I was scared that he didn't love me and never would. My family wasn't the greatest about things like that... I was just really scared that I would be stuck in a loveless marriage for the rest of my life." The kids ran through the kitchen again, and I paused until they were gone. "But clearly, that is not the case here." I smiled again.

Yuuki quickly changed the subject. "Our little ones sure act young for their age, don't they?"

"Yeah." I leaned against my piece of the counter. "I think, with Miyo, it's just because she was never really friendly with anyone else, so she never learned how she 'should' act. She can be serious when she wants, or when the situation warrants it. What about Hideki?"

"He takes after his father... well, like his father was. He's smart, but mostly pretty immature." Yuuki closed her eyes and listened to the kids running around. "Like you said about Miyo, he can serious when the situation needs it, but mostly he's all fun and games and deviousness. Before he defended Miyo, he's never really gotten into trouble before though." Yuuki looked at me and raised her hands in a defensive position. "I'm not saying that Miyo caused that, I'm just saying before that he's never gotten into fights... oh no matter how I say it it's not coming out right..."

"Will you relax? I only have a temper now when I'm pregnant." I gave her a smile. "And I'm not, so just chill. I'm not going to freak out on you."

"You've changed a lot, Ruka." Yuuki smiled back. "You've... mellowed quite a bit."

"That's what they say." I leaned my head back against the cupboards. "My daughter, Akiko, took the spitfire gene away from me I guess. You'll have to meet her sometime."

"Does she bite?" She raised an eyebrow at me.

I couldn't help laughing. "That was a joke, right?"

"Kind of. Is she as bad as you used to be?" Yuuki backed away from me, expecting me to shoot her or something I guess.

"Only if you try to get her to talk about Kozue." I rolled my eyes. "He's her crush. He ignores her like Lord Kaname ignored me. She doesn't have a shot with him, and she's got someone else who loves her, yet she keeps going for Kozue. How was I ever that stupid?"

"We've all been that stupid at least once." Yuuki said, her tone soothing. "I've only known one person who hadn't fallen head over heels at least once, and she didn't seem to care about love at all."

"Who?" I tipped my head forward and looked at her. "Who could not care about love?"

"I called her Yori. She was my best friend." Yuuki went quiet after that and so did I.

In the quiet, my mind reverted back to my choice about if I wanted another baby...

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Author Note: This story isn't going to last long at all. I love reviews, and thank you for reading.


	5. Chapter 5

Author Note: We might be getting a bad storm tonight, so I'm trying to update everything I have going in case the power goes out. Enjoy.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Vampire Knight and I make absolutely no profit from this.

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That night, as we the parents tried desperately to separate Hideki and Miyo, Akiko stormed in, ran to her room, and slammed the door so hard the whole house shook.

"Was that Akiko?" Yuuki looked up from the little ones to glance towards Akiko's room.

"Yes." I sighed and stopped trying to wrangle Miyo away from Hideki. "I don't know why she's in _that_ mood after seeing Haruto."

"You can go check on her, sweetheart." Akatsuki kissed my forehead. "I'll work on the situation at hand."

Hanabusa looked at me briefly, then back at the kids. He seemed just as befuddled about their relationship as the rest of us did.

I went to Akiko's room and knocked. Akiko was crying, I could hear her sniffling.

"Akiko?" I asked softly. "Let me in."

"It's not friggin locked!" She sobbed. That was definitely a new one; something had to be terribly wrong with her.

I walked inside, shutting the door behind me and sitting beside her on the bed. Akiko threw herself at me, sobbing and sniffling and rubbing at her tears.

"What happened?" I rubbed her back. "You can tell me..."

"Haruto... he told me he loves me." She choked down a sob. "But... I just don't see him like that... he's everything to me, just in a different way. I love him too... just not like that." Akiko buried her face in the shoulder of my shirt and continued to cry.

"You know... when your father and I were around your age, we were pretty much the same way." I held my daughter close as I recounted the story. "He loved me... and I loved him too, just not like that. I was head over heels for someone else, but Akatsuki was my solace in a world of rejection." I stroked her hair; she had calmed down a little and was listening. "But... one day my family told me I was in an arranged marriage with him. And I started to slowly realize that he did love me, and that I could love him like that if I gave him a chance."

"I'm not in an arranged marriage with Haruto though, right?" Akiko tipped her face up to look at me, tearstains marring her face.

"No." I smiled at her. "Because I'm not like your Grandmother in that respect. But it was just an example. Sometimes, you have to see that you _can_ love someone like that instead of that you're so enamored with someone else, you start to see them in a different light."

"I don't want to lose Haruto... he's everything to me..." She crawled away from me and up towards her pillows.

"Personally I think you two would be a great couple." I reached over and smoothed her hair. "He loves you so much, and it's so obvious. Don't worry about losing him for now though, I really doubt he would give up on you... but what did you tell him when he said he loved you?"

"That I didn't know." Miyo swallowed hard and closed her eyes. "Because I really don't."

"Good girl. He'll understand." I stood and headed for the door.

"Thanks, Mom." Akiko gave me a small, broken smile. "I mean it."

"You're welcome." I slipped out the door, shutting it behind me. Everyone was still in the living room, and I grabbed Akatsuki and pulled him down, kissing him hard.

Hanabusa wolf-whistled at us and Yuuki laughed a little. When I finally pulled away, I whispered just loud enough for Akatsuki to hear, "I'm beyond glad that I have you."

"Me too." Akatsuki hugged me close.

"Anyone have a clue what we're going to do about the kids?" I asked the other adults, who were both staring at Hideki and Miyo.

"Trial separation?" Hanabusa offered.

I rolled my eyes, but smiled anyway. Akatsuki squeezed me gently. Yuuki was smiling too, pressed against Hanabusa's side.

"I don't want to leave Miyo!" Hideki proclaimed, hugging Miyo tighter against him. "She needs me."

Miyo had leaned her face into his chest, and she looked relaxed and completely at home in his arms. She was silent, but anyone could tell she didn't want him to leave her either.

"Hideki, we have to get home." Hanabusa sighed. "You'll see her at school tomorrow."

"No. I'm not leaving." Hideki set his chin on top of Miyo's head and hugged her closer. "I'm not going anywhere."

It had gotten late, and as it was, it took both Yuuki and Hanabusa to haul their 13-year-old child from the house. Hideki screamed bloody murder the whole time; the neighbors probably thought we were sacrificing something.

Miyo was quivering, shaking harder than I had ever seen her, and she clung to Akatsuki as Hideki disappeared into the car.

That night, while she slept, Miyo had a vision.

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Author Note: If I finish everything else I need to before it storms, I'll come back around and do the next chapter on this. Otherwise, I love reviews and PMs about my story, and thank you for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

Author Note: All right, I just woke up, I'm not feeling well, and I have more fiction work to do than I can handle without going insane (short trip, I know). Therefore, I will be adding to this, and Iced Over, just once today, and will not add to my one-shot collections today (I think, we'll see how my fiction work goes.)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Vampire Knight, and I make absolutely no profit from this.

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Miyo woke up, screaming for Hideki. All three of us, Akiko, Akatsuki and I scrambled out of bed and ran into her room.

"Hideki!" Miyo sobbed, clutching at her blankets. She repeated his name over and over.

"She just had a nightmare." Akiko pushed past her father to go back to her room, she was clearly still in a sour mood from Haruto's confession.

Akatsuki scooped Miyo up, holding her against him, and I hovered in front of him, stroking Miyo's hair.

"Hideki... he's hurt." Miyo was clearly still panicked, but she had calmed down a little, she was no longer sobbing though she wasn't done crying.

"Ruka, go call Yuuki's cell. Just to make sure." Akatsuki whispered in my ear.

I slipped out of the room and did just that. Her cell rang three times, and then she answered. "Oh! Ruka!" She sounded shocked, panicked and worried.

"Is everything ok with Hideki?" I asked, trying to keep my voice down. "Miyo is freaking out, she says he's hurt."

"How does she know?" Yuuki asked.

"I don't know, but what happened?" I peeked into Miyo's room, Akatsuki was still cradling her and telling her everything would be ok.

"Long story short, Hideki tried to jump from our roof and swing off a tree like I did when I was a kid..." Yuuki sighed. "But he misjudged and hit his head, cut his forehead open. It didn't heal right away, it's still not fully closed up but it's getting better."

"So he'll be ok?" I peeked into Miyo's room again, she had calmed down a little more.

"Yeah. Hanabusa's worried as hell though." Yuuki sighed.

There was noise on her end of the phone and then I heard Hideki say something about "Mom said a bad word."

"Alright, I'll let you go..." I paused. "Unless you want to put Hideki on the phone and let him talk to Miyo for a minute. She might not believe me about him being ok."

"Sweetie, do you want to talk to Miyo?" She asked.

"Yes!" Hideki screamed.

"Ok, just for a few minutes, it's late." Yuuki handed the phone to Hideki and I handed my phone to Miyo.

"Hideki!" Miyo got the biggest smile on her face and instantly started chattering into the phone, pausing only when Hideki was talking.

Akatsuki set her down on her bed, giving me a questioning look.

"He tried to imitate Yuuki's behavior when she was young by jumping off the roof." I gave him a smile. "He cut his forehead open, but he's mostly ok now."

"Ah." Akatsuki nodded and pulled me against my side.

We let the kids have ten minutes of talk time, and then made Miyo get off the phone. She slept peacefully after that.

"So how do you think she knew?" I asked when I finally crawled back into bed with Akatsuki. "I find it strange that she just _knew._"

"Maybe she's psychic." Akatsuki raised an eyebrow at me. "It's not that far fetched with your power being mind control, right?"

"But psychics are so rare." I shrugged a bit, cuddling closer to him. "And Miyo is so young... I mean, Akiko didn't realize she had the power of fire, like you, until she was fifteen, almost sixteen."

"Every child is different, Ruka." He squeezed me gently. "Just think, back in the night class how different everyone was. We're still all really different."

"You're a good husband... and a good father." I lay my hands against his chest, closing my eyes in unadulterated bliss.

"Mm." Akatsuki kissed my forehead. "You're the best wife I could ever have, and the best mother to those girls... I love you."

"I love you too." I mumbled, falling asleep.

My little Miyo finally had a friend... now we only had two problems to deal with as a family:

The first, Akiko's love dilemma.

And 2) did I really want another baby?

While Akiko would have to handle her problem mostly on her own, I had my wonderful husband to help me decide with mine...

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Author Note: This is probably going to be the only add of the day here, because like I said, I have more fiction to work on then I can sanely handle. I love reviews, and thank you for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

Author Note: As I said on my other story, I did all I could to my fiction project for tonight. Actually, it's morning now... Anyway! So I decided to add to this, Iced Over, and Fireplace tonight before I conk out.

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Vampire Knight, and I don't make any profit from this. Don't we know this by now?

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"Mom!" Akiko tackled me the second she made it in the door. "Mom, holy crap, Mom!"

"What?" I turned to face her, putting my hands on her shoulders. "You have my attention, you don't have to call me over and over. What?"

"He _kissed _me." Akiko made a face of indecision. "He _kissed __**me**_."

"Who kissed you?" I peeked at the cookies I had just put in the oven since I could smell something burning. The family always betted against me when it came to baking. Cooking I could handle with ease, but baking, well, I lost every time.

"Kozue!" Akiko looked at the oven and sighed. "Mom, you've got it too high for cookies. And they're smoking."

"Son of a bitch!" I yanked the cookies out of the oven and turned it off. "Where'd he kiss you and why?"

"Cheek." Akiko tapped her left cheek with one finger. "And that's the thing, I think he only did it because these other girls were hitting on him. And... Well... I don't feel like I did about him."

"Then tell him to back off." I opened the window and tried to wave the smoke out the window before the smoke alarm went off. "But why don't you love him like you used to?"

"Well... I think..." Akiko blushed and fidgeted. "Someone else is in the picture now."

"Oh really?" I smirked at her. "Does that someone have red hair and his mother's eyes?"

Akiko did not glare at me as I suspected she would. Instead she turned bright red and ran towards her room, screaming, "SHE'S READING MY MIND! HELP!"

At that moment the smoke alarm went off, and I turned back, thinking I had let all the smoke out the window. Then I realized that the cooled/blackened cookies had all caught fire.

"Akiko!" I scolded and went to get the fire extinguisher while the cookies burned on the pan.

* * *

"Have you been thinking about whether you want to have another baby?" Akatsuki asked when he got home. The girls were each in their respective rooms, one pouting because she had been separated from her best friend, the other pouting because I knew too much.

"I don't want to risk anyone getting hurt when I have those mood swings... so I'm happy with just our girls." I smiled up at Akatsuki. "Which reminds me, Akiko is pouting in her room because I figured out she really does like Haruto."

"That's good." Akatsuki returned my smile. "I trust him. I don't trust that Kozue kid."

"Neither do I." I hung up his coat in the hall closet and leaned back against the wall. "Strangely, she figured out she likes Haruto when Kozue kissed her."

"On the lips?" My husband, who had been laid back his whole life, suddenly had murder in his eyes.

"Down, Cujo." I laughed. "On the cheek." I kissed his cheek. "But I think she'll be happy with Haruto."

"Yeah." Akatsuki wandered into the kitchen. "Why does it smell like smoke in here?"

"Well, blame me for half and Akiko for half." I heard a giggle from Akiko's room and I crept closer. Mumbled words drifted through the door, and then more giggles.

"Akiko?" I leaned against the door. "Who are you talking to in there?" I asked, though I had a pretty good idea.

"No one!" Akiko started laughing, full out laughter that I hadn't heard from her in years. Then, fairly clearly, "C'mon, stop it."

I whipped the door open to find _Akiko _pinning down _Haruto. _She looked unsteady, as if she had just flipped them.

"Right." I shook my head. "Haruto you remember our little conversation, don't you?"

"Yes." Haruto said softly. Akiko looked at him, then back at me.

"Good. Then all's well, be good you too." I shut the door.

All was solved, all was well. My girls were happy, so were my husband and I.

I was finally seeing the bright side of my children.

* * *

Author Note: Yes, last chapter, sorry. I would've warned you but I wasn't sure myself. I loved writing this, but what did you think of it? I love your reviews, you can PM me if you want to, and I appreciate every read. Also, I don't have the correct material to do an epilogue, so sorry.


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